Rapid prototyping (RP), also known as additive manufacturing (AM), has been well received and adopted in the biomedical field. The capacity of this family of techniques to fabricate customized 3D structures with complex geometries and excellent reproducibility has revolutionized implantology and regenerative medicine. In particular, nozzle-based systems allow the fabrication of high-resolution polylactic acid (PLA) structures that are of interest in regenerative medicine. These 3D structures find interesting applications in the regenerative medicine field where promising applications including biodegradable templates for tissue regeneration purposes, 3D in vitro platforms for studying cell response to different scaffolds conditions and for drug screening are considered among others. Scaffolds functionality depends not only on the fabrication technique, but also on the material used to build the 3D structure, the geometry and inner architecture of the structure, and the final surface properties. All being crucial parameters affecting scaffolds success. This Commentary emphasizes the importance of these parameters in scaffolds' fabrication and also draws the attention toward the versatility of these PLA scaffolds as a potential tool in regenerative medicine and other medical fields.
Keywords: 3D in vitro culture system; biodegradable; calcium phosphate glass; composite material; drug screening; polylactic acid (PLA); rapid prototyping; regenerative medicine; scaffolds; tissue engineering.